Finding a spouse is clearly not as straightforward as it once was in China. There are now nearly 200 million single adults – almost 15% of the population according to 2015 Ministry of Civil Affairs figures – and this number has skyrocketed from just 6% in 1990.

According to 2016 National Bureau of Statistics data, there are 30 million more males than females in China and state media, in an apparent attempt to encourage marriage, has in recent years started to stigmatize any women over 27-year-olds and single by referring to them as ‘leftover woman”. While online dating, the global modern-day answer to courting, has proven popular in China, with the PRC’s biggest such app, Momo, receiving up to 23 million active users a day, women have often said they feel harassed on such sites because of the disproportionate user gender imbalance.